Game machine and media inserting apparatus

ABSTRACT

A game machine of the present invention has a slot that receives a medal, a medal guide portion having a guide face that inclines downward toward the slot and that guides the medal, and a medal mount that is provided in the vicinity of the medal guide portion and that enables a large number of medals to be mounted thereon. The guide face has contact portions that come into contact with an outer circumference of the medal in two points when the medal is mounted on the guide face, where a distance between the contact portions is smaller than the diameter of the medal.

The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in JapanPatent Application No. 2004-229350 filed on Aug. 5, 2004, which areexpressly incorporated herein by reference in its entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a game machine to play a game usinggame media such as medals and coins, and more particularly, to a gamemachine incorporating a game media inserting apparatus that handles thegame media.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In general, in a game machine (such as, for example, a slot machine,roulette machine and pusher game machine) where the game starts byinserting a game medium (hereinafter, referred to as a “medal”) asdescribed above, a game media inserting apparatus (hereinafter, referredto as a “medal inserting apparatus”) is incorporated to enable a playerto insert medals smoothly. For example, JP 2003-79927 discloses a pushergame machine incorporating a medal inserting apparatus. The medalinserting apparatus is configured to enable a player to pick a medal upand insert it in a slot one by one, and the inserted medal is releasedto a predetermined target.

The medal inserting apparatus incorporated into the pusher game machineas described above has the need for a player to guide the medal to theslot, and thereby causes bother and tiredness. Particularly, in recentgames (such as a pusher game) using medals, machines are becomingmainstream which have game characteristics that a player is encouragedto use a large number of medals within a predetermined time and canacquire a large number of medals when a predetermined condition holds.Therefore, inserting a large number of medals is burdensome in thestructure where a player guides medals to a slot to insert on aone-by-one basis. Further, a back portion (contact portion with a medal)of the slot may sustain damage by friction, and there arise problems ofcausing disfigurement of the contact portion and the like.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a game machineincorporating a medal inserting apparatus enabling a large number ofmedals to be inserted successively with ease.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectsand advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means ofthe instrumentalities and combinations particularly out hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, andtogether with the general description given above and the detaileddescription of the embodiments given below, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a view showing one example of a structure of a pusher gamemachine that is one example of game machines according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a structure of a medal insertingapparatus;

FIG. 3 is an upper view of the medal inserting apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the medal inserting apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a portion cut in the centralportion of the medal inserting apparatus;

FIG. 6 is a schematic front view illustrating a relationship between aguide face of a medal guide portion and a medal;

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view to explain a preferred positionalrelationship between the medal guide portion and a rotation roller;

FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of medals mounted on a medal mount;

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view illustrating the behavior of a pluralityof medals which are inserted in the medal guide portion;

FIG. 10 is a schematic side view illustrating the behavior of a medalwhich is allowed to stand and mounded on the medal guide portion;

FIG. 11 is a schematic side view illustrating another example of thebehavior of a medal which is allowed to stand and mounded on the medalguide portion;

FIG. 12 is a schematic side view illustrating another example of thebehavior of a plurality of medals which are allowed to stand and moundedon the medal guide portion;

FIG. 13 is a view showing another example of the structure of the medalinserting apparatus;

FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B are views illustrating modifications of the guideface of the medal guide portion;

FIG. 15 is a view showing still another example of the structure of themedal inserting apparatus; and

FIG. 16 is a view-showing another embodiment of the game machineaccording to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of a game machine according to the present invention willspecifically be described below.

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an embodiment of the game machineaccording to the invention, and shows one example of a structure of apusher game machine that is one example of game machines.

A pusher game machine 1 is provided with a housing 2, and inside thehousing 2 is provided a game area 3 visible from outside. In the gamearea 3, a horizontal plane 3 a is formed, while a pusher 3 b is disposedthat reciprocates in the direction of the arrow on the horizontal plane3 a. A plurality of media (medals) is stored on the horizontal plane 3a, and the medals stored on the horizontal plane 3 a are inserted from afront cliff (not shown) by the pusher 3 b reciprocating in the directionof the arrow, and discharged as a reward. A player releases held medalstoward the horizontal plane 3 a and pusher 3 b, and acquires a largenumber of medals beforehand stored on the horizontal plane 3 a by theoperation of the pusher 3 b.

In addition, the pusher game machine of this embodiment is provided witha specific game-mode allowing a player to acquire a large number ofmedals more than released medals when a predetermined condition holds.More specifically, targets 6 are arranged in an area where medals arereleased, and when a predetermined number of (for example, ten) medalsare inserted in the targets 6 within a predetermined time (for example,60 seconds), many medals are released (a medal releasing portion isomitted) to the horizontal plane 3 a that is a medal mount area.

In the housing 2 is formed a base portion 7 to protrude to the playerside, and on the base portion 7 is provided a rotation lever 8 that isrotated by a player. The rotation lever 8 is connected at its base endwith a slope (not shown) which feeds a medal inserted from a medalinserting apparatus described later toward the horizontal plane 3 a,while being converted in direction by operation of rotating the rotationlever 8. Then, by a player operating the rotation of rotation lever 8,an inserted medal is released in the direction of a desired target. Inaddition, with respect to the driving mechanism that couples therotation lever 8 and slope to rotate the slope, the mechanism that feedsa medal into the slope from the medal inserting apparatus and the like,these mechanisms are not of the principal constitution of the invention,and descriptions thereof are omitted.

The base portion 7 is provided with a media inserting apparatus (medalinserting apparatus) 10 to perform operation of inserting medals inplaying the game. The medal inserting apparatus 10 enables a player toinsert many medals successively with ease, as specifically describedlater.

A structure of the medal inserting apparatus 10 will be described belowwith reference to FIGS. 2 to 6.

The medal inserting apparatus 10 is provided with a flat-shaped medalmount 11 incorporated into a panel 7 a constituting the base portion 7.For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the medal mount 11 is configuredto only enable a predetermined number of medals to be mounted thereonstably, and a concave portion 11 a is provided on the game area side ofthe central portion of the medal mount 11. A bottom 11 b of the concavepotion 11 a is provided with a medal guide portion (media guide portion)12 having a guide face 12 a that guides a medal, and a slit-shaped slot13 to insert the medal guided along the guide face 12 a inside thehousing. In this case, the guide face 12 a is formed to descend towardthe slot 13 from the player side, and has a length to the extent thatallows a number of medals to stand to be mounted. For the inclinationangle of the guide face 12 a, the face 12 a is only required to inclinewith respect to the horizontal plane to cause a medal to slide smoothly,and the angle is not limited particularly.

The guide face 12 a preferably has a length to some extent to enable alarge number of medals to be inserted successively. More specifically,the face 12 a preferably has a length at least more than or equal to thediameter of a medal, and more preferably, has a length more than two orthree times the diameter of a medal to enable smoother successiveinserting operation with ease.

The medal mount 11 is integrally formed with the concave portion 1 a andmedal guide portion 12, for example, by die-casting of zinc (zincalloy), and the surface of the mount 11 is chrome plated to enhance theappearance. In this case, to improve integration characteristics, it maybe possible forming the flat-shaped medal mount 11, and then forming theconcave portion 11 a and medal guide portion 12 by press molding.

In other words, it is possible to integrally form the medal mount 11 andmedal guide portion 12 with ease, for example, by press molding aplate-shaped member in the form of a plane into the form of a concave.Thus making both members in unit improves the integrationcharacteristics to the game machine. It is also possible to form themembers separately without integrally forming. Therefore, the medalmount 11 and medal guide portion 12 may be configured to be detachablewith respect to the panel 7 a.

The medal mount 11 is provided in the vicinity of the medal guideportion 12 so that a medal is easily inserted in the guide face 12 a ofthe medal guide portion 12. For example, by forming the mount 11 toextend toward the player side, i.e. frontward from the medal guideportion 12, a player is capable of inserting medals in the guide face 12a of the medal guide portion 12 only by pushing a large number of medalsmounted on the mount 11 backward.

In addition, the medal mount 11 of this embodiment is formed on eachside of the extending medal guide portion 12, and it is thereby possibleto insert medals from the side. Further, the medal guide portion 12 isformed on the bottom 11 b of the concave portion 11 a, medals arethereby inserted in the medal guide portion 12 from the medal mount 11,and it is thus possible to regulate a number of inserted medals to someextent (constituting regulating means). In other words, since medals areinserted in such a manner, even when a large number of medals areinserted once, the medals are guided to the slot 13 while beingscattered by contact of medal-to-medal, bounce by the bottom 11 b andthe like.

A frame inside the panel 7 a is provided with a selector device (notshown) to discriminate medals inserted from the slot 13. The selectordevice measures predetermined parameters (such as a weight and diameter)and guides a medal determined to be proper to the slope.

The guide face 12 a of the medal guide portion 12 is configured to comeinto contact in two points with the outer circumference of a medal whenthe medal is mounted, where a distance between the two points ispreferably smaller than the diameter of the medal. More specifically,the guide face 12 a of this embodiment is formed to have a U-shapedcross-section, and as shown in FIG. 6, has contact portions P1 such thatthe outer circumference of a medal M comes into contact with the face 12a in two points when the medal is kept stand substantially vertical tothe guide face (when the medal is mounted at any states except thehorizontal state with respect to the inclination angle of the guideface), and that a distance of the contact portions. P1 is preferablysmaller than the diameter of the medal M. Therefore, a gap is generatedbetween the deepest portion P of the U-shaped cross-section guide face12 a and the lowest edge M1 of the medal, while the contact portions P1exist under the central position C of the medal, and the medal M is thusunstable in holding itself.

A rectangle opening 11 d is formed on a rear wall 11 c of the concaveportion 11 a of the panel 7 a to expose the outer circumference surfaceof a rotation roller 30. In this case, in a constitution where therotation roller is not disposed, the rear wall 11 c is not provided withthe opening 11 d, and is configured as a wall portion (rear wall)situated at the back of the slot 13. Such a rear wall without theopening acts as a guide to guide a medal to the slot 13 when the medalsliding downward along the guide face 12 a comes into contact with thewall.

As shown in FIG. 7, the rotation roller 30 is supported so that theposition of the rotation center E (support position) is higher than anedge position (end position of the opening of the slot 13) P2 betweenthe deepest portion P of the guide face 12 a and the slot 13. Bysupporting the rotation roller 30 in such a positional relationship withthe guide face 12 a of the medal guide portion 12, it is possible tomake a contact position of a medal lower than a virtual line X which ispassed through the center E of the rotation roller and parallel to theextending direction of the guide face 12 a, and it is thus possible todrive and rotate the rotation roller downward reliably. In other words,the contact position of the medal with the rotation roller becomes lowerthan a position E1 at which the virtual line X intersects the rollerouter circumference, and when a medal slides down near the slot andcomes into contact at its end face with the rotation roller 30, therotation roller 30 can be driven to rotate downward with reliability(when a medal contacts a position higher than the position E1, theroller becomes hard to rotate downward). By such downward rotation ofthe rotation roller 30, the medal contacting the roller converts itsposition downward with ease by assistance of the weight of the medal aswell as the rotation of the rotation roller 30, and is inserted insidethe slot 13 smoothly.

In addition, it is actually preferable to set the support position ofthe rotation roller 30 such that a height H from the deepest portion Pto the position E1 is larger than a height h from the deepest portion Pwhen a number of medals (herein, assuming five or six medals) that cangenerally be picked up the easiest are mounted on the guide face 12 awhile lying (h<H). In other words, by supporting the rotation roller insuch a position, when mounting a number of medals that can be picked upthe easiest on the guide face 12 a and sliding the medals, since thecontact position with the rotation roller 30 is reliably lower than theposition E1, the rotation roller 30 is driven to rotate downward withreliability (in FIG. 7, the virtual line X′ is positions where the medalcontacts the guide face 12 a when the medal is mounted on the guide face12 a while lying).

As described above, installation of the rotation roller 30 on the rearwall portion suppresses contact of medals with the rear wall portion,and the rear wall is thereby prevented from sustaining damage byfriction, while disfigurement of the medal contact portion iseliminated.

The rotation roller 30 is preferably formed of, for example, urethanerubber to be low in cost. Further, it is preferable to form means forenhancing friction, for example, knurling 30 a on the surface to causethe rotation roller 30 to rotate more easily when coming into contactwith a medal. In other words, as the rotation roller 30 rotates moreeasily, friction is more reduced that interferes with a medal insertedin the slot 13.

Further, as described above, in the constitution where the rotationroller 30 is provided on the rear wall, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, it ispreferable that a cover 32 is disposed around the exposed rotationroller. By thus providing the cover around the rotation roller 30, it ispossible to effectively cover areas of upper, lower, left and right ofthe rotation roller 30 exposed from the opening, and it is thus possibleto prevent foreign substances from coming inside the housing from gapportions around the rotation roller. In addition, the cover 32 of thisembodiment is formed of PA based resin with particle-shaped glass mixedtherein, attached around the opening 11 d formed in the rear wall 11 c,and configured to expose the surface portion.

According to the game machine configured as described above, as shown inFIG. 8, a player can make preparations to start the game by beforehandmounting many medals on the medal mount 1. Then, by the many medalsmounted in the vicinity of the medal guide portion 12, the player iscapable of performing the operation of inserting medals with ease (theoperation of inserting is carried out by simply pushing medals mountedon the medal mount 11 to insert successively the medals in the medalguide portion 12, by the player picking up medals mounted on the medalmount 11 and inserting the medal in the medal guide portion 12, or thelike, as described below).

In other words, when performing the operation of inserting medals, aplayer beforehand mounts many medals on the medal mount 11 provided inthe vicinity of the medal guide portion 12, then merely performs theoperation of feeding the medals to the guide face 12 a of the medalguide portion 12, and thereby is capable of performing the operation ofinserting many medals successively with ease.

Then, in the game machine with the above-mentioned configuration, when aplayer picks up a medal and places the medal on the guide face 12 a ofthe medal guide portion 12 (while letting the medal relatively lie orstand) so as to insert the medal in the slot 13, the medal comes intocontact with the guide face 12 a in two points of the outercircumference where a distance between the two points is smaller thanthe diameter, and therefore, becomes unstable. Since the guide face 12 ainclines downwardly, when the player takes player's fingers off themedal, the medal is naturally guided toward the slot 13 along theinclined guide face 12 a while falling by the weight of the medal andthe action of moment. In other words, in inserting a medal, by placingthe medal on the guide face 12 and releasing the fingers, the medalslides while falling to be parallel with the inclination by the actionof moment due to its weight, comes into contact with the rotation roller30 situated behind the slot 13, and eventually is inserted in the slot13, whereby it is possible to perform the operation of inserting medalsmore smoothly and comfortably.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, when simply inserting medals fromthe medal mount 11 (by pushing medals on the medal mount 11 to insert,picking up a plurality of medals to insert while letting the medals lie,or the like), each of the medals slides downward along the inclinedguide face 12 a. Then, eventually, each of the medals comes into contactat its end face with the rotation roller 30 sequentially, undergoesdownward conversion of its position due to the action of rotation(action of downward rotation) of the rotation roller and the weight ofthe medal, and is inserted successively without clogging the slot 13.

In this case, if the medals are sliding while being stacked, when thestacked medals contact the rotation roller 30 and undergo positionconversion by the rotation of rotation roller 30, a rear end regiontoward the player side of an uppermost medal of the stacked medals isable to rotate in the direction of the arrow D1 (second and subsequentmedals are not able to rotate in the direction of the arrow D1 due tothe medal (s) thereon). Thus, the medals are inserted in the slot 13sequentially from an upper medal while undergoing the positionconversion. Meanwhile, medals sliding on a one-by-one basis successivelycome into contact with the rotation roller 30 sequentially to undergothe position conversion, and are inserted in the slot 13.

Further, in this embodiment, since the guide face 12 a is formed to havethe U-shaped cross section, in the case of inserting a medal from themedal mount 11 to the side of the medal guide portion 12, of pushing alarge number of medals once to insert or the like, as shown by the arrowin FIG. 3, a medal located to the side of the central area of the guideface 12 a slides toward the center of the extending direction along thesurface of the guide face 12 a. The medal thus sliding down is actedupon by rolling moment, and gradually shifts to a horizontal state withrespect to the inclination of the medal guide portion as nearer the slot13, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 4.

Then, immediately before being inserted in the slot 13, the medaleventually becomes a substantially horizontal state, contacts therotation roller 30, undergoes position conversion, and is inserted inthe slot without change. In other words, even when performing theoperation of inserting from the side as described above, by theabove-mentioned action (automatic axis adjustment effect of the rollingmoment), a medal located to the side of the guide face 12 a ultimatelybecomes a substantially horizontal state that causes the easiestinsertion and contacts the rotation roller 30 immediately before beinginserted in the slot 13, and is inserted in the slot 13 smoothly.

When a player handles a relatively small number of medals, for example,the player picks up a single medal M from the medal mount 11 and standsthe medal substantially vertically to the guide face 12 a on the frontside of the medal guide portion 12, as shown in FIG. 10, the medalcontacts the U-shaped medal guide portion 12 in the position P1 (seeFIG. 6) lower than its center C, and is kept unstable with the lower endfloated. At this point, the center position of gravity of the medal M(center position C of the medal) is above the contact position P1, whilethe inclination face 12 a inclines downward, and therefore, an upperportion of the medal M allowed to stand is acted upon by the moment dueto its weight of the medal M to fall forward as shown by the arrow inthe figure. Then, ultimately, the medal M falls down to be along thesurface of the guide face 12 a as shown by chain double-dashed lines,and is naturally guided toward the slot 13 without change. The fallenmedal contacts the rotation roller 30 in an end face M2 opposed to therotation roller 30 or in a surface portion M3 outward in the diameterdirection by momentum caused by falling down, is converted in positionperpendicularly toward the slot 13 due to the action of the rotation(action of the downward rotation) and the weight of the medal, andinserted in the slot 13 smoothly. In other words, only by picking upmedals mounted on the medal mount 11 and placing the medals on the medalguide portion 12 while letting the medals stand without any otheroperation, the player is capable of performing successive inserting(successive release) of medals with ease.

Moreover, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, when a player picks up asingle medal M from the medal mount 11 and stands the medal to let itrelatively lie on the guide face 12 a on the front side of the medalguide portion 12, the medal is kept unstable with the lower end floated.At this point, the center position of gravity of the medal M (centerposition C of the medal) is above the contact position P1, while theguide face 12 a inclines downward, and therefore, an upper portion ofthe medal M allowed to stand is acted upon by the moment to cause themedal M to fall toward the player side due to its weight of the medal Mas shown by the arrow in the figure. Then, ultimately, the medal M fallsdown to be along the surface of the guide face 12 a as shown by chaindouble-dashed lines, and is naturally guided toward the slot 13 withoutchange. The fallen medal contacts the rotation roller 30 in an end faceM4 opposed to the rotation roller, is converted in positionperpendicularly toward the slot 13 due to the action of the rotation(action of the downward rotation) and the weight of the medal, andinserted in the slot 13 smoothly.

In addition, in the modes as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 as describedabove, also when a player picks up a plurality of medals and takes thefingers off while letting the medals stand on'the front side of theguide face 12 a of the medal guide portion 12 in the same way asdescribed above, each of the medals comes into contact with the rotationroller 30 sequentially according to the track as described above, and isinserted in the slot 13 successively. Thus, in the case of inserting asmall number of medals, it is only required picking up the medalsmounted on the medal mount 11 by fingers, placing the medals to let themstand on the front side of the guide face 12 a, and taking the fingersoff the medals without change. The medals removed from the fingers falldown from an upper portion in a standing state toward the slot side ortoward the player side, eventually contact the rotation roller 30 in anend face area opposed to the rotation roller 30 or an outer surface areain the diameter direction, undergo the position conversion due to theaction of the rotation, and are inserted in the slot 13. In other words,according to the constitution as described above, it is possible toperform the operation of inserting medals with more smoothly andcomfortably.

Further, even in the case of picking up a large number of medals mountedon the medal mount 11 or the like to handle the medals, for example, asshown in FIG. 12, a player lets a large number of medals stand on theguide face 12 a in multilayer form. At this point, each of the medalsmoves downward along the guide face 12 a sequentially due to its weight,eventually comes into contact with the surface of the rotation roller30, is guided downward by the rotating rotation roller 30, and insertedin the slot 13 sequentially without change.

As described above, by beforehand mounting a large number of medals onthe medal mount 11 in the vicinity of the medal guide portion 12, theneed is eliminated of the inserting operation using both hands (such asthe inserting operation for holding a container storing medals by onehand, and picking up a medal from the container by the other hand toinsert in the slot), and it is thereby possible to insert a large numberof medals successively with ease. Further, in the constitution of thisembodiment, the rotation roller 30 is disposed, and a medal is therebyeasily converted in position to the vertical direction, and thusassisted to be inserted in the slot 13. Therefore, such inconvenience isresolved that inserting of medals in the slot 13 cannot catch up withthe operation of inserting medals, and smooth inserting operation isachieved.

Moreover, the medal guide portion 12 is formed on the bottom 11 b insidethe concave portion 11 a of the medal mount 11, and it is designedinserting a medal from the medal mount 11. By this means, it is possibleto regulate the number of medals to insert to some extent, and to insertmedals in scattered state. Thus, since it is possible to regulate thenumber of medals inserted from the medal mount 11, the insertingoperation to provide scattered medals can be performed successively.Further, it is possible to prevent a large number of medals from beinginserted once into the medal guide portion 12 while exceeding the speedof insertion from the slot 13, and clogging with medals and the like canbe suppressed effectively.

The embodiment of the present invention is described in the foregoing,and further, the invention is capable of being modified as describedbelow, for example.

As shown in FIG. 13, for example, the back of the slot 13 may beconfigured as a vertical wall portion (rear wall 11 c) without beingprovided with a rotation roller to guide a medal in contact therewithdirectly to the slot 13. Further, in the case of providing the rotationroller, the medal guide portion 12 needs only to incline toward theslot, is not limited in the form of a cross section to the shape asshown in FIG. 6, and may have a flat-plane-shaped cross section.Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the guide face 12 a isconfigured to have the curve portion with the U-shaped cross section sothat a medal comes into contact with two points. However, the guide face12 a needs only to have a contact portion such that the outercircumference of a portion smaller than the diameter of a medal comesinto contact with the face 12 a in at least two points when the medal ismounted, and be in the form of having a gap between the lowest edge ofthe medal and the contact portion. For example, the guide face 12 a maybe modified as appropriate to have a V-shaped cross section. (havingstraight line portions) as shown in FIG. 14A, a generally U-shaped crosssection (having curve portions and straight line portions) as shown inFIG. 14B, or asperities on the surface of the guide face 12 a.

Further, the medal guide portion 12 in the medal inserting apparatus 10may extend from the game machine leftward and rightward with respect toa player, extend obliquely, or have a configuration for a medal to beinserted from the game area side to the player side, opposite to thisembodiment.

Furthermore, as another example of the structure of the regulating meansas described above, for example, as shown in FIG. 15, the medal mount 11may be provided with regulating walls 45 to regulate the number ofmedals inserted in the medal guide portion 12. The regulating walls 45are formed on both sides of the medal guide portion 12 at an openingposition on the inserting side, have an opening width W to the extentallowing a single medal to pass through, and are configured so that themedal guide portion 12 is situated within a range of the opening widthW. Also in such a structure, since it is possible to regulate the numberof medals inserted in the medal guide portion 12 while being pushed outof the medal mount 11, the inserting operation to provide scatteredmedal can be carried out successively. Naturally, the regulating meansneeds only to have a structure enabling regulation of the number ofmedals inserted in the medal guide portion 12, and is not limited to theaforementioned structure.

Moreover, the medal inserting apparatus 10 may have a structure suchthat the structural members such as the medal mount 11, rotation roller30 and the like are configured as units in advance and incorporated intothe game machine body. Further, the medal mount 11 allowed to mount alarge number of medals may be formed to incline toward the medal guideportion 12 to some extent, or configured to have a combination of ahorizontal plane and incline plane. Furthermore, in the above-mentionedembodiment, the medal guide portion 12 is formed inside the concaveportion so that a medal is inserted from the medal mount 11, but it maybe possible to configure an end portion of the medal guide portion 12and the medal mount 11 on the substantially same plane.

The present invention is applicable to various game machines such as,for example, a slot machine and a machine as shown in FIG. 16. As oneexample, a game machine 200 as shown in the figure is configured so thata card game is carried out in a game area 203, where a medal insertingapparatus 10 having the medal mount 11 as described above is provided ina front plate (base) 12 of a front door 202 that is part of the housing.

The above-mentioned medal inserting apparatus in the present inventionis applicable to various apparatuses in which a medium such as a coin ormedal is inserted, other than the above-described game machines, suchas, for example, a vending machine and ticket dispenser that issuesvarious tickets.

Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects isnot limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shownand described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventiveconcept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

1. A game machine provided with a game media inserting apparatus thatreceives a game medium, comprising: a slot that receives a game medium;a game media guide portion having a guide face that inclines downwardtoward the slot and that guides the game medium; and a game media mountthat is provided in the vicinity of the game media guide portion andthat enables a large number of game media to be mounted thereon, whereinthe guide face has contact portions that come into contact with an outercircumference of the game medium in two points when the game medium ismounted on the guide face, while a distance between the contact portionsis smaller than the diameter of the game medium.
 2. The game machineaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a rotation roller that rotatesto convert a position of the game medium toward the slot by coming intocontact with the game medium guided by the guide face.
 3. The gamemachine according to claim 2, wherein the rotation roller is supportedrotatably, at a position higher than a position of an opening end of theslot.
 4. The game machine according to claim 2, wherein knurling isprovided on a surface of the rotation roller.
 5. The game machineaccording to claim 2, wherein the rotation roller is supported to exposea surface thereof from an opening formed on a rear wall with which thegame medium sliding down along the guide face comes into contact, andthe opening is provided with a cover to prevent a foreign substance fromentering from around the rotation roller.
 6. The game machine accordingto claim 1, wherein the game media mount is provided with a regulatingpart for regulating a number of game media to be inserted in the gamemedia guide portion.
 7. The game machine according to claim 6, whereinthe regulating part is provided on the game media mount, and hasregulating walls provided with an opening width to an extent allowingthe game medium to pass through toward the game media guide portion. 8.The game machine according to claim 1, wherein a concave portion isformed on the game media mount, and the game media guide portion isformed on a bottom of the concave portion.
 9. The game machine accordingto claim 8, wherein the game media mount has an area enabling game mediato be mounted to both sides and at the front of the concave portion. 10.The game machine according to claim 1, wherein the game media guideportion is formed integrally with the game media mount.
 11. The gamemachine according to claim 1, wherein the game media guide portion has alength longer than an outer diameter of the game medium to be used. 12.The game machine according to claim 1, wherein the guide face has aU-shaped cross section.
 13. A game machine provided with a game mediainserting apparatus that receives a game medium, comprising: a slot thatreceives a game medium; a game media guide portion having a guide facethat inclines downward toward the slot and that guides the game medium;and a game media mount that is provided in the vicinity of the gamemedia guide portion and that enables a large number of game media to bemounted thereon, wherein the guide face has a shape of generating a gapbetween the guide face and an outer circumference of the game mediumwhen the game medium is allowed to stand substantially vertically to theguide face.
 14. A game machine provided with a game media insertingapparatus that receives a game medium, comprising: a slot that receivesa game medium; a game media guide portion having a guide face thatinclines downward toward the slot and that guides the game medium; agame media mount that is provided in the vicinity of the game mediaguide portion and that enables a large number of game media to bemounted thereon; and a rotation roller that rotates to convert aposition of the game medium toward the slot by coming into contact withthe game medium guided by the guide face.
 15. The game machine accordingto claim 14, wherein the rotation roller is supported rotatably at aposition higher than a position of an opening end of the slot.
 16. Thegame machine according to claim 14, wherein the guide face has contactportions that come into contact with an outer circumference of the gamemedium in two points when the game medium is mounted on the guide face,while a distance between the contact portions is smaller than thediameter of the game medium.
 17. A media inserting apparatus thatreceives a medium, comprising: a slot that receives a medium; a mediaguide portion having a guide face that inclines downward toward the slotand that guides the medium; and a media mount that is provided in thevicinity of the media guide portion and that enables a large number ofmedia to be mounted thereon, wherein the guide face has contact portionsthat come into contact with an outer circumference of the medium in twopoints when the medium is mounted on the guide face, while a distancebetween the contact portions is smaller than the diameter of the medium.18. The media inserting apparatus according to claim 17, furthercomprising: a rotation roller that rotates to convert a position of themedium toward the slot by coming into contact with the medium guided bythe guide face.
 19. The media inserting apparatus according to claim 17,wherein the guide face has a U-shaped cross section.
 20. A mediainserting apparatus that receives a medium, comprising: a slot thatreceives a medium; a media guide portion having a guide face thatinclines downward toward the slot and that guides the medium; and amedia mount that is provided in the vicinity of the media guide portionand that enables a large number of media to be mounted thereon, whereinthe guide face has a shape of generating a gap between the guide faceand an outer circumference of the medium when the medium is allowed tostand substantially vertically to the guide face.
 21. A media insertingapparatus that receives a medium, comprising: a slot that receives amedium; a media guide portion having a guide face that inclines downwardtoward the slot and that guides the medium; a media mount that isprovided in the vicinity of the media guide portion and that enables alarge number of media to be mounted thereon; and a rotation roller thatrotates to convert a position of the medium toward the slot by cominginto contact with the medium guided by the guide face.
 22. The mediainserting apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the guide face hascontact portions that come into contact with an outer circumference ofthe medium in two points when the medium is mounted on the guide face,while a distance between the contact portions is smaller than thediameter of the medium.